Sensex hits new peak in early trade

The BSE index touches yet another peak of 14,697.69 on the back of sustained buying by foreign funds.

Achieving yet another milestone, the bellwether Sensex on Thursday touched yet another peak of 14,697.69 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) during morning trade on the back of sustained buying by foreign funds.

The 30-share sensitive index, opened firm at 14,690.58 as against yesterday's close of 14,643.13 and immediately touched an all-time trading high of 14,697.69, a rise of 47.45 points.

The Sensex however, reacted negatively towards weak Asian stock markets to touch a low of 14,591.44 and was quoted at 14,648.42 at 10.10 am, surrendering major part of early gains.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), also struck a new peak of 4,245.30 before quoting at 4,219.15 from previous close of 4,224.25, a fall of 5.10 points.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying spree and reportedly picked up shares worth Rs 1,665.60 crore in three trading sessions from February 2 and also pumped in Rs 543.30 crore (provisional) on February 7.

Domestic mutual funds, however, remained net seller.

Dealers said the market is consolidating at the current higher levels before making any move ahead of the Union Budget on February 28.